


Conversation, or, the act of exchanging words

by yamcasserole



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Gen, One-Shot, drabble-y thing I guess, idk I'm bad at tagging things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-27 20:03:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5062162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yamcasserole/pseuds/yamcasserole
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes a lot goes unsaid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day 1

      "Er- Hephaestus?"  _Oh, for God's sake, Renée. No need to sound so hesitant. You're not talking to yourself. This is a perfectly normal thing to do, just talking to- to the ship? To a computer program? To-_

_"_ Please, Commander Minkowski, call me Hera."  _Please. It's all I've got. I'm Hera, and Hera is me, and this mission is going to be a lot harder on me if you won't even call me by my name._

"Right. Um, sorry. Hera."  _Is silence always this uncomfortable? Thank God for the engine noises._

_What did she want? An introduction? "Hello, robot. I'm going to be bossing you around and ignoring your sentience for the duration of this mission." That's all they did on Earth. That's all any of them ever did._

"Well, Commander, um, if it's alright with you, I need to be going now. Uh... Doctor Hilbert's experiment needs more electricity, so I really ought to focus on that."  _Not a lie. Not really. Doctor Hilbert hasn't spoken to me since he arrived, but his experiment_ will  _need more electricity soon. Not that I couldn't multitask, be there and be here, like I always am. But this conversation isn't pleasant for either one of us. It's really in both of our best interests if I direct my attention elsewhere._

"Yes, of course. You are excused. Goodnight... Hera."  _But that- it-_  she _will still be here. I guess? Canaveral really should have explained this whole AI system thing better._

"Goodnight, sir."


	2. Homesick

      "Hera?"

      "Yes, Commander Minkowski?"  _1:15 a.m. on the dot. Your sleep schedule has been unnatural lately, but predictable. You humans are all so predictable. You probably don't realize. There's a lot you don't realize._

"I-"  _I just- felt alone. Wanted to hear a voice. Wanted to interact with a human, so of course I decided to talk to our friendly neighborhood omniscient robot._ "I was... cold. It's cold in here. Please raise the temperature to 25 degrees Celsius."

      "Yes, sir."  _Liar. You really thought I wouldn't be able to hear your hesitation, see you tense up when you told a lie? You really think I'm one of_ those  _robots, don't you? The ones who can't read feelings, who don't_ have  _feelings. I do, you know. Have feelings. Maybe you'd know that, if you bothered to give me the time of day beyond all those pointless reports and statistics. If you bothered to get to know me. I can see that you're lonely, and homesick, and a little scared. They can't see it, but I can. The thing is, Commander, I'm lonely and homesick too. I know exactly what you're feeling, and I know it's not pleasant, but you're fortunate, really. You have a home to go back to, people who are missing you like you miss them. I'm homesick and I don't even have a home._


	3. Colors

      "Hera?"

      "Yes, Commander Minkowski?"  _What now? The temperature is 25 degrees Celsius, which, quite frankly, was too hot, because you've been uncomfortable ever since; all your bodily functions are nominal, barring your sleep schedule. Why bother to initiate conversation? We all know how this will go._

"What's your favorite color?"

      "Sorry?"  _Why would you want to know? Are you really_ that  _bored?_

"Your favorite color. Or do you- do you not have a favorite color? Is that-"  _Is that not a thing robots do? Do you even have the concept of favorite?_

"Well- I do have a favorite color, but- you don't have a name for it. You can't see it with those spheres of mush in your skull."  _Was that rude? You always did have trouble keeping your mouth shut._

     "Could you- could you describe it?"

     "Why?"  _Why do you care?_

"I just- please?"  _I don't know why, it just seemed- important._

"Well, okay... Um, it's like- it's like the sound of fog, and, um..."  _Why am I doing this?_

"You're doing great. Go on."  _What the hell does fog sound like?_

"Um, like, the color powdery snow sounds like when you step on it- you know, that. And it's beautiful, but not like an orchid is beautiful. Beautiful like a thistle is beautiful. And it's like the feeling you get when you're- not alone, but isolated, if that makes sense, only a few shades more peaceful."  _I could go on, but I dont think you'd understand._ "Does that- does that make any sense?" 

      "About as much as I can comprehend, yes. Hera... Thank you."  _Really. It meant a lot._

"Thank  _you_ , Commander."  _Somehow, it means a lot._


	4. Communication

      "How hard would it be, for  _once_ , for him to just LISTEN? To just hear the words that I say and process them in his brain and FOLLOW ORDERS? I swear, it feels like no one listens to me around here."

      "You can't let Officer Eiffel get to you, Commander. He doesn't mean to be insubordinate. He thinks everything's just a big joke."  _I'm not going to tell you what he_ really  _thinks. You can talk to him yourself. Pryce and Carter, 555: "Good communication habits are key to continued subsistence." And, Commander, I do think it's a bit of a stretch to say that_ no one  _listens to you. After all,_  I  _listen to you. Admittedly, it's only because I have to, but I feel like it ought to count for something._

"Our safety and continued survival is NOT a joke! His blatant disregard for his own health and safety is bad enough, but he can't just go around endangering my ship and my crew, no matter how funny he might find it!"  _Which one is Hera? My ship, or my crew?_

"You need to just talk to him. Tell him what you told me. He wouldn't want any real harm to come to us."  _Us? It gave her pause, your casual plural pronoun. Great job getting involved. Nice going, throwing your hat into the ring and making everything about you. You're not part of the crew, Hera. They made that very clear on Earth. Just some computer code, that's all you-_

"I suppose you're right, Hera. He wouldn't actually hurt anyone."  _"Us." So, she sees herself as part of the crew? No, Renée, she doesn't_ see herself _as part of the crew, she_ is  _part of the crew. She is sentient and she is on board this spaceship and she was sent by Canaveral, so it follows that she is part of the crew. Hera is a member of_ my  _crew, the crew_ I  _swore to lead and guide and protect, and I'm only just realizing that now. Some commanding officer I am._ "I'll- I'll talk to Eiffel. Thank you for your advice, Hera."  _I owe her an apology. You can't just ignore someone's sentience for months and act like it never happened._ "Do you know where I can find Officer Eiffel?"  _Renée, apoligize NOW, dammit. It's not that difficult. Just do it. Just open your mouth and say "I'm sorry."_

"He's hiding from you in storage closet C. Will that be all, Commander, or do you require further assistance?" _She's not going to bring it up. She's going to let it slide. Back to the old routine. I suppose I should be disappointed. I don't think I am, really. You shouldn't expect too much from humans._

"No, that will be all, Hera. Thank you." 

**Author's Note:**

> After all the Hera-Minkowski interaction in the last few episodes, I wanted to explore how their relationship has evolved and then this thing happened. I'm not sure how many of these there will be, so I'm making this multiple chapters. If it feels too choppy, though, please let me know and I'll fix it, because I was on the fence about how to format this one.


End file.
